June 3, 1916 



HOETICULTURE 



767 



(( 



HERE COMES THE BRIDE 



>> 



There's Money in June Weddings and June Graduations and Commencement 

 Days for the Florist WHO KNOWS HOW TO PLEASE. 



We can supply you with strictly up-to-date accessories, which you must have if 

 you want to give satisfaction. Stock up now and have the goods to show cus- 

 tomers. Send for prices and you will be astonished to see how much you can 

 do with a little money when you go straight to headquarters — THE FLORISTS' 

 SUPPLY HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



H. BAYERSDORFER & CO 



1129 Arch Street, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



THE RIGHT TO CHARGE AN 



ADVANCED PRICE WITHOUT 



PREVIOUS NOTICE TO 



THE CUSTOMER. 



In these days of rapid and unex- 

 pected advances in all conimoditie.s, 

 the following case should strike a 

 responsive chord: 



Columbus, Ohio. 



For several years I have beeu dealing 

 witb a firm of Cleveland, Obio, Jobbers, 

 buying the general line, among whicb is a 

 line of staples, on which the priee has not 

 varied in a long time. For as long as I 

 can remember the price has been the same. 

 $1.75 per dozen, f. o. b. Cleveland. The last 

 order which 1 placed was placed as usual 

 with the salesman who calls on us regu- 

 larly. He said nothing about any advance 

 in price, but advised me to increase my 

 order, as the market might advance. He 

 said, however, that he did not expect it to 

 advance in the near future. 



The gnods were flul.v received and also 

 the bill. I did not have time to check the 

 bill up for a tew days, and found then 

 that the price on the line of staples I refer 

 to had been advanced nearly 25 per cent, 

 without notice to me. I took the matter 

 up with the Arm, but they refused to ad- 

 just the matter, saying that all wholesalers 

 had atlvanced the price. It was too late to 

 send the goods back because I had used 

 some of them. I wish to know if I am 

 liable for the advanced price, as I was 

 charged same without notice. 



E. R. K. & CO. 



As I said before, this is vitally im- 

 portant just at this time, because all 

 kinds of commodities are advancing, 

 and the chance is that many more 

 readers of this department may en- 

 counter this problem. 



Whether a buyer who places an or- 

 der relying upon a price previously 

 quoted him, is responsible for a higher 

 price, no notice of the advance having 

 been given, depends on several fac- 

 tors. 



First, what is the seller's method 

 of doing business? Many manufactur- 

 ers and jobbers print on all their busi- 

 ness stationery and their order forms 

 a line reading: "All prices subject lo 

 change without notice." Any seller 

 who has put this wording on his sta- 

 tionery, if it is conspicuous, can raise 

 his prices without notice to a buyer, 

 and if the buyer places an order with- 

 out inquiring, and afterwards finds the 

 price higher, he must pay it if he 

 keeps the goods. He can of course re- 

 turn the goods but must do so prompt- 

 ly. 



Even if the seller does not use the 

 notice referred to, it may be a custom 

 of the particular trade to advance 

 prices without notice. If this is so, 

 the buyer is bound by it and could not 

 object to an advance without notice. 



If the seller has not adopted the 

 blanket notice, "all prices subject to 

 change without notice," and there is 

 no custom of the trade about it, then 

 in my judgment, he could not advance 

 the price without notice. Perhaps I 

 should qualify that. If the buyer had 

 been buying a certain thing regularly 

 every week or every month, and the 

 price had for a considerable period 

 been stationary, then it would be the 

 duty of the seller, before filling the 

 current order, to get confirmation of it 

 at the advanced price. If he shipped 

 the order and it was taken in and 

 used by the buyer before the bill was 

 sent, the buyer, in my judgment, could 

 refuse to pay more than he had paid 

 before. 



This same question was asked me 

 some time ago by a retail merchant 

 who had bought some goods and had 

 found the price higher than he had 



paid the last time. Inquiry demon- 

 strated that the order on which the 

 price had been advanced was the first 

 for over two months. The price two 

 months before had been so much, and 

 the buyer expected it to be the same 

 as his last order, and did not inquire. 

 It proved to be 33J per cent, higher 

 when the bill came in. The buyer 

 had to have the goods quickly and 

 he therefore used them, but objected 

 to the charge. I advised him that his 

 objection was not well founded. 

 Where goods are bought infrequently, 

 there is no connection between the 

 transactions, and it is decidedly in- 

 cumbent on the buyer to ask the price 

 when he buys. He has no right to 

 assume that it has not meanwhile 

 changed. In such a case the buyer 

 would have to pay whatever the price 

 was. 



There is still another factor which 

 ought to be discussed, and it is pres- 

 ent in the case cited by the Ohio cor- 

 respondent, viz., the effect on the sit- 

 uation of a salesman's acceptance of 

 the order without notice — perhaps 

 without knowledge — of any advance. 

 If the salesman has authority to ac- 

 tually accept orders on the spot — his 

 previous conduct would decide this — 

 then the former price governs if he 

 accepts an order without changing the 

 price, even though he didn't know of 

 the advance, as seems to have been 

 the case with the Ohio salesman. 



But if the salesman had no authority 

 to accept the order, but simply was to 

 get it and forward it to his firm, they 

 to pass on it, then what the salesman 

 did or said has no bearing on the case. 

 (Copyright, May, 1916, bv 

 Elton J. Buckley.) 



A Florist's 

 Necessity 



HART'S HANDY HANDLE 



rita securely on any itandard pot and by the n«e of a little chif- 

 fon or ribbon glvei yon a Basket effect at a very small additional 

 expense. Increasing the price of yonr plants 100 per cent. 



1 12 Inches hlirh, f2M per dos. 



2 18 " " 3JS0 •■ •• 



3 18 



4.00 



4 24 Inches high, |B.0O psr daa. 

 B 30 " «J» - " 



« M " »M •• - 



At Tonr Dealer's or Direct. 



GEO. B. HART, Manufacturer, 24 to 30 Stone Street, Rochester, N.Y. 



